The Secret of the Forger's List
The Secret of the Forger's List is the fourth Loophole adventure and the third Lit Chix mystery. It is written by E. E. Nalley, and starts on 2007-01-15. The previous Lit Chix mystery, is The Case of the Poisonous Patent. Part 1 Part 1 was released on ????, and its events start with a flashback to 1995-03-07 and then are on 2007-01-15. 1995-03-07 A Flashback where the Friends of F.O.E. are reacting to Shelly Carson's death. 2007-01-15 Team Phoenix's next task is to evade capture by Lady Astarte for 40 minutes. This starts in the previous Loophole story. In this story, Loophole manages to find a way to win over Lady Astarte. Steve Nalley, Loophole's brother, has a snit fit over finding out that Whateley isn't his idea of Mutant High. Loophole does the classification exam for her armor's weapons for Special Agent Marvin Teller of the ATF. She isn't entirely happy with the CAT-4 classification. They compromise on CAT-1 (Experimental). There's also a mention of Burt Rutan. Tansy is having trouble with her detention - the Three Little Pests. For their part, the love is reciprocated, and the threesome decide that the reason they got stuck with Miss Bitch is that Loophole and Murphy got her kicked out of the Alphas, so they're due a bit of payback—like some Essence. Loophole and Murphy start their detention of servicing the school's vehicle fleet. Murphy stumbles and discovers an ancient slip of paper that appears to be—a blackmail note! Don Sebastiano plots revenge with Solange, Hamper and Damper. The Lit Chix analyze the blackmail note, figure out that someone was working on a cure for GSD and managed to kill Mrs. Carson's daughter, Shelly, in the process. They decide that they just have to acquire "the dark mind of Edgar" to see what it contains. Melville Cottage, Room 803, Whateley Academy Kodiak, Aries and Flicker work up some campaign posters for his run for Alpha Alpha against, of all people, Oiler (one of the Good Ol' Boyz). Clubhouse of F. O. E. in the tunnels between Dunn Hall and Whitman Cottage The Secret, which appears to be some kind of entity, rouses itself from the abandoned F.O.E. clubhouse where Mrs. Carson's daughter, Shelly, died. It swaps the real bust of Poe for the fake one that's been in the foyer for several months. Part 2 Story The chapter starts with a flashback to March 6, 1995, presumably when Carson’s daughter Shelly died. Then it moves to January 16th, 2007, in the "Back Quad near the front of Crystal Hall" where Stronghold runs across Tansy berating the Three Little Pests and starts to remonstrate with her when Tansy pulls a pistol (which turns out to be non-lethal (see forum post)) that hits Palantir’s force ball which in turn hits Razorback. Razorback goes rager and attacks Stronghold. Then Mega-Girl shows up and clocks Razorback. Mrs. Carson then shows up and brings Stronghold, Razor and Mega-Girl into a detention hearing. Bethany seems to have gotten a crush on Stronghold. Abracadabra proposes following Foxfire and Lifeline around to see what they’re up to and steal all the essence they get for themselves. Ms. Hartford announces the yearbook project. Photos will be done on Feb 1. The detention hearing ends with explanations and no detention. Mega-Girl promises to introduce Stronghold to the Cape Squad. Stephen asks Marty if she likes movies. Oiler and Kodiak begin to get into it when the fight is broken up by Mr. Forrest (Mr. Forrester?) and She-Beast. “Mr. Forrest” turns out to be Bogus in disguise, who decides to tell The Don. In Paranormal Law, Murphy collides with Lifeline. She points out that the textbook had once belonged to Shelly Carson. Mr. Layton’s National Guard unit has been activated and he’s on his way to Afghanistan; the new teacher is Janice Talbert. Loophole and Jericho’s class takes a field trip to low orbit, headed by the teacher, Langley Paulson, who demonstrates why he’s the original Tin Man. Bogus and The Don are interrupted by Ringo. The Don gives him the task of tracing all of his phone calls undetectably. Loophole and Selkie ask Mrs. Horton for permission to inspect the bust of Poe. Loophole determines that it’s got a concealed chamber with a note (and possibly other things) and that it’s only 15 years old. The Three Little Witches watch as Loophole and Selkie exit Poe. Part 3 Story Another flashback to March 7, 1995. This time Tywyswyr has to calm Mrs. Carson down over her grief over losing Shelly. We learn some of his machinations. On January 17, 2007 Mrs. Carson hands Tansy a three-day in-school suspension in the security cells as a punishment for her part in the disturbance with Stronghold and Razorback. The Lit Chix discuss the ransom note and decide on a fairly leisurely plan of action, including a FOI request for old Security incident reports. Everything Goes With Blackmail is mentioned. The Three Little Pests listen in on them. Stronghold almost gets lost in the devisor tunnels, and gets directions from Sted. He finds his sister, Loophole, in the Vehicle Lab and gets some directions on how to approach Mega-Girl. On January 20, 2007 Before breakfast, Loophole manages to get to Security and file the FOI request with Lt. Reynolds. She sees Tansy in her cell, and takes a picture for the yearbook. In the Alpha meeting, Poise is elected Queen Alpha and Kodiak is elected Alpha male. Lancer represents Team Kimba. Kodiak and Loophole run into a bit of unpleasantness with the jackasses Loophole had beaten in an automobile race. In Berlin. Then they discuss a number of matters involving Freya, The Don and some destroyed videos. On January 23, 2007 Loophole tests out one of Bab’s nano-paint inventions, and then receives the invitation to the party from Phase. In a case of miscommunication worthy of The Three Stooges, Stronghold and Phase manage to totally confuse each other. The Secret yields to its frustration in the Lit Chix not following up on its notes, and decides to possess Reverb. Part 4 Story 1995-03-10 Melvin "Hotrod" Donner arrives in the custody of Staff Sergeant “Gunny” Oscar Bardue. Sergeant Bardue makes a very positive impression, and Headmistress Carson offers him a job. He says his retirement isn’t for a few years yet. 2007-01-24 Loophole and Phase have a heated discussion and clear up the misunderstanding about what Loophole’s brother, Stronghold, was about. Phase sends Stronghold the data readout on Mega-Girl. Melvin Donner has a long discussion with Loophole, as her advisor, about Kodiak, with specific emphasis on his romantic history and how difficult it is to change. Mrs. Carstairs, in Administration, discovers that Renae “Reverb” Greist has been absent for four periods. She checks Doyle Medical Center and then Security, and when they can’t find her, they declare an emergency. When Carmen informs her of Renae’s status, Loophole begs out of class and calls an emergency meeting of the Lit Chicks. Meanwhile, the Magic faculty prepares a search spell, aided by Louis “Fubar” Geinz. The Lit Chicks discover the Three Little Pests draining essence from their spell. When Loophole and Murphy break in on them, Clover and Bethany fall through a masked portal into a pocket universe. After much toing and froing, Lady Astarte, Elyza Grimes and the Lit Chicks discover Shelly Carson’s spirit, the Secret, and what’s left of the magic-enhanced devise that they’d used to cure GSD. Shelly’s spirit is held in a secure casket while several of the bio-devisors grow her a new body. Loophole is unable to analyze the devise, and E.E. Nalley says that it won’t be analyzed and put into operation for a good long time. Elsewhere Don Sebastiano thinks he’s discovered Hekate’s Master. 2007-01-27 Loophole and Kodiak have a very intense discussion about their relationship. 2007-01-28 Elaine makes a diary entry. Characters (in order of appearance) Part 1 * The Friends of F.O.E ** Peter Parks ** Lindsey Andrews ** Tom Parks *Elizabeth Carson *Team Phoenix Part 2 Part 3 * Tywyswyr Unsorted *Bifrost *Interface *Zenith *Loophole *Kali *Oscar Bardue *Kodiak *Carmen *Stronghold *Mechano Man *Langley Paulson * Marvin Teller (Special Agent, ATF) *Solange *Abracadabra *Clover *Palantir *Murphy *The Don *Hamper *Damper *Foxfire *Lifeline *Compiler *Fractious *Selkie *Flicker *Aries *The Secret *Franklin Delarose *Razorback *Mega-Girl *Oiler *Mr. Forrest *She-Beast *Bogus *Janice Talbert *Jericho *Hardsell *Ringo *Bella Horton *Tywyswyr *Ponygirl *Roux *Christian Reynolds *Pendragon *Poise *Dashboard *Gloriana *Automa-Tech *Traduce *Thuban *Lancer *Phase *Chaka * Cadet Rogers *Joshua Baker *Tatsuo Ito *Deborah Carstairs *Randall Marley * Sally McCoy *Bradley Grimes *Trish Savage *Fubar *Richard Lord *Elyzia Grimes *Arachne *Lupine *Granite Category:Stories Category:E. E. Nalley Category:Lit Chix Category:Gen1